Body mass and food intake in captive,breeding bottlenose dolphins,Tursiops truncatus

Body mass (BM) was recorded regularly during pregnancy in four female Indian Ocean bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). Daily food intakes were recorded for each animal before and after parturition. BM increase occurred variably between 2 and 5 months of gestation, and at parturition mass increases averaged 41.2% of initial prepregnancy mass. Changes in mass can thus be used as an early indicator of pregnancy. During the 12 months of pregnancy, no significant changes occurred in the amount of food ingested compared with previous years. Daily food intake during lactation (X = 13.2 kg, 8% of BM) proved significantly higher (P < 0.001) than during pregnancy (X = 8.7 kg, 5.2% of BM).